Udupi/Bengaluru,  With 98 students testing Covid positive in the Manipal Institute of Technology (MIT) campus of the Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), the Udupi district authorities on Thursday declared it a containment zone.

The MIT is one of the top ranking institutes in the country and over 33,000 students study in the MAHE, which has over 72 student clubs, that depict its diverse culture on the campus.

Nearly 6000 students use the hostel facilities on the campus and the MAHE has built 25 blocks of hostels in which these students reside. The MIT is a constituent unit of MAHE.

A senior official in Udupi told IANS that the MIT was conducting Covid tests on all its students and taking steps to isolate any new cases.

Udupi district Covid nodal officer, Dr Prashant Bhat told IANS that the district health administration took steps to declare the MIT campus as a containment zone due to the rise in Covid-19 cases.

"98 cases were registered in a gap of one week and reasons for such rapid rise in cases are under investigation," Bhat said.

He added that the decision to declare it as a containment zone was taken by Udupi Deputy Commissioner G. Jagadeesha after 59 cases of Covid were reported on the campus between March 11 and 16.

According to him, for a period of two weeks, the movement of students in hostels and others residing on the MIT campus, has been restricted.

"Faculty and essential duty staff of MIT campus are allowed in the campus with proper pass/identification," he added.

Meanwhile, in a community run hostel in Malleshwaram in Bengaluru, 17 students tested Covid positive in the last three days and the Bengaluru civic body has taken steps to declare it as a containment zone.

A nursing college in Mangaluru too has been declared as a containment zone as the college reported 61 Covid positive cases in the last one week. "Nearly 1000 students study there and about 400 reside in campus hostels. Most of these students are from Kerala," a senior health official told IANS.